Greece joins Russia-led gas project, Putin happy about direct access to markets-
ISTANBUL, June 25 (RIA Novosti) - President Putin said Monday a Russia-led natural gas pipeline project, which Greece vows to join, is in Russia's interests because it gives it direct access to consumers.
"This project means new transport capacity to support new contracts," Putin said referring to a project under which a gas pipeline from Russia to Italy through Bulgaria - and now Greece - will be laid.
He said the South Stream project would, along with Nord Stream in the Baltic, give Russia direct access to consumers in the European Union.
"Greece perused [Russia's] proposal and is ready to join the project together with Russia, Bulgaria and Italy," Konstantinos Karamanlis said in Istanbul.
The first agreement on the South Stream project was signed June 23 in Rome by Russian gas giant Gazprom and ENI, Italy's leading gas company, with which Gazprom also has a long-term bilateral gas supply deal.
While the required capacity has yet to be determined, Russia has stated that it would fill the pipe with its own as well as Central Asian gas.
The South Stream will run parallel to the Blue Stream pipeline that brings Russian gas to Turkey under the Black Sea.
en.rian.ru/world/20070625/67791067.html
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The Guardian 4 July, 2007
Russia back in the Balkans
"Everybody knows that the Balkans and the Black Sea region were of
special interest to us", Putin told reporters at the end of a summit
of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Co-operation. Following
the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, Russia's
influence in the Balkans diminished. "Russia, with its increasing
potentials, is coming back to this region. This is an obvious fact",
he said.
Putin was among 12 leaders at the talks held in Istanbul, Turkey. This
group of countries include Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania, Russia, Turkey,
Ukraine, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Greece, Moldova and Serbia.
A joint declaration issued at the end of the summit acknowledged that
political problems between member states were hindering economic
exchange in the oil-rich region and called for their peaceful
settlement.
Mutual benefit
The declaration said that member countries were ready "to deepen co-
operation in the area of energy and co-operate with the European Union
and other international partners to ensure fair access to energy
resources and markets on a mutual basis for all interested countries".
The region covered by the Balkan and Black Sea countries is the
world's second-largest source of oil and natural gas after the Persian
Gulf and is a major transit corridor for energy supplies bound for
Europe.
Speaking at the meeting, Putin called for "strengthening the stability
of the energy markets of the Black Sea by expanding the practice of
long-term contracts".
The members pledged to speed up work on upgrading transport
infrastructure, including a projected 7,500-kilometre ring road along
the Black Sea coast and regular maritime links between their ports,
with the aim of boosting tourism and trade.
Removing trade barriers was another priority and they called for
closer co-operation with the EU and for the "earliest" settlement of
political tensions and territorial conflicts between member states.
"Political conflicts constitute an important hurdle in the way of
economic co-operation and development", Turkish Prime Minister Recep
Erdogan said at a lunch he hosted at the summit. "We have to make
efforts to find a solution to political problems by ourselves within
the region", he added.
Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul held a rare bilateral meeting
with Vardan Oskanian, his counterpart from arch-foe Armenia, with whom
Turkey has no diplomatic ties.
Kosovo
One serous conflict in the region springs from the attempts of Albania
and ethnic Albanians living in the Serbian province of Kosovo to
declare their unilateral independence from Serbia. Following the wars
in the Balkans which had the aim of tearing apart the Yugoslavian
Federation, the Serbian province of Kosovo has been administered by so-
called UN (NATO) peacekeepers. Both the United Nations and the western
powers have conspired continuously to take the destruction of
Yugoslavia even further by supporting the independence of Kosovo.
A United Nations report has attempted to provide justification for
this act despite it being contrary to the Charter of the United
Nations and an agreement between western Europe and Russia to respect
the borders of all countries established following WW II.
And last week, ethnic Albanian war veterans gathered in western Kosovo
to warn that time was running out. "We will fight again against all
those who want to occupy Kosovo", said a leader of veterans of the
Kosovo Liberation Army. "People are tired, and they cannot wait any
longer", he said.
However, Russia has announced that it will veto any UN resolution that
sanctions Kosovo independence. The fact that Russian power has moved
back into the Balkans is giving cause for those who have promised
Kosovo independence for almost 10 years to rethink whether their loud
proclamations can be delivered.
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